Rehabbing Holm hopes to fight in 2016

Holly Holm now can make a fist with her injured left hand, and she’s eager to use it.

The Albuquerque mixed martial arts fighter, in an interview with Ariel Helwani on the “MMA Hour,” said her rehab from the broken thumb suffered in her loss in July to Valentina Shevchenko is on schedule. She hopes to be back in the Octagon before the year is out.

There really wasn’t a lot of news in her 18-minute interview with Helwani. Holm is still annoyed by suggestions that she should have waited for a lucrative rematch with Ronda Rousey rather than defend her newly won UFC bantamweight title against Miesha Tate in March. She lost to Tate by fifth-round submission (rear naked choke), then lost to Shevchenko by unanimous decision.

“It drives me crazy,” she said of the criticism. “… Money is not why I fight.”

According to an estimate from sportsdaily.com, Holm has made $822,550 in fight purses and bonuses from her five UFC fights. That figure does not include percentages of pay-per-view profits, sponsorships, etc.

Rousey, meanwhile, will finally return to the Octagon December 30 – more than 13 months after her loss to Holm – challenging current champion Amanda Nunes.

Holm said she’s neither angry nor frustrated to see Rousey get a title shot after not fighting since her loss to Holm in Australia last November.

“You know, honestly, I don’t feel like I’m in a spot to say what I want,” she told Helwani. “I didn’t have good performances in my last two fights, so why should I sit here and walk around and say what I deserve? I’ve never done that in my career anyway. I’m curious to watch the fight and see how it turns out, but I’m not by any means pissed off about it or anything. I’ll just have to … I just want to keep training and win whatever fight might come my way, and that’s it.”

Holm (10-2) said she’s been sparring at Jackson-Wink MMA – using her right hand only – and is “about 80 percent” ready to use the left hand, as well.